00:00Governments, three joint police and army posts are now operational.
00:04Just over a month since first being announced,
00:07the completed posts are the Taruba Interchange in San Fernando,
00:10under the interchange at Grand Bazaar in Valsay and at the Edihard Ground in Tunapuna,
00:15all opened on Thursday.
00:17Speaking with reporter Cindy Ragabar-Thikasingh at the Taruba site around 7.30 a.m.,
00:22the police commissioner issued a warning, as the opening also marks the end of the current SOE.
00:28The state of emergency ends today, and with it marked the opening of three joint police and army posts.
00:36A move Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander calls Plan B,
00:41and one police commissioner, Alistair Guevara, is confident will be able to fill the gap.
00:47At the end of today, we have all the persons who are eligible to be released
00:53from preventative detention orders being back on the street.
00:57But, sadly, they'll be coming out here to meet a different environment,
01:03a different policing environment, highly operational and highly effective.
01:09Commissioner Guevara says the numbers prove the SOE was very effective,
01:14and says these micro-police units are the next step in their crime-fighting initiative.
01:20All major units, he says, will be attached and functioning from here,
01:25including Transit Police, various task forces, CID, Special Branch, and, of course, the Defence Force.
01:33This is for traffic enforcement, traffic management, operational control, operational support.
01:39So when something happens, we can block off all the arteries from south and treat with it accordingly.
01:44And he says there's a new crime-fighting tool added to their arsenal.
01:51If you look up, you will see drones.
01:54So the drone patrols and drone response is now going to be inculcated into our crime-fighting initiative.
02:00So where you might be able to see it there, it could go a whole lot higher and be invisible.
02:06So this is just a warning to the criminal element.
02:10All hands are on deck, represented here today, and those whom you have not seen.
02:15And we are well supported by the Minister of Homeland Security,
02:19and we are willing to take the fight to the criminals.
02:22When asked for his thoughts on government reintroducing the Zozo bill to Parliament,
02:27which previously failed but now has amendments and is being called a special operations bill,
02:33the commissioner says he welcomes it.
02:36Any assistance that we can get from the legislative arm of government will be most welcome,
02:42because whatever we get, we'll be able to utilize to make the public feel safer.
02:47If we join together, it's easier to manage crime.
02:52And that's what we're looking for, an effort coming from members of the public
02:56and dedicated law enforcement officers in this fight.
03:01Cindy Raguba, Tika Singh, TV6 News.
03:06Pass for now.
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